How was your week, friends? Like most of you, I spent much of it glued to the news and on the phone with my elected officials. But I also made time for a friend’s 40th birthday party, coffee with friends, and a day at the beach. We have to fill our cup before we can pour from it, right?

Links for you!

There’s a special place in heaven for salads that keep in the fridge for multiple days. This is one such salad.

How Anthony Bourdain came to be Anthony Bourdain.He taught me early that the value of a dish is the pleasure it brings you; where you are sitting when you eat it—and who you are eating it with—are what really matter. Perhaps the most important life lesson he passed on was: Don’t be a snob. It’s something I will always at least aspire to—something that has allowed me to travel this world and eat all it has to offer without fear or prejudice. To experience joy, my father taught me, one has to leave oneself open to it.

We’re planning a trip to Massachusetts and Vermont for our anniversary/my birthday and I’ve been poring over* Airbnb listings like it’s my part-time job. Look at this listing! How is it $76 a night?! (If you’ve never used Airbnb before, here’s a $40 credit towards your first booking!)

An essay by a woman who shaves her face.It’s not like I think people don’t know I shave. I’m fairly certain they can tell. I know when other women shave. I’m often curious about their regimen, wondering if they feel satisfaction from tweezing like I do; if they feel weird in public when they don’t shave; or even if they ever go out without shaving. But I’d never ask, because talking about shaving makes me feel like I’m exposing a hypervulnerable part of myself.

Somewhat related: when I lived in Taiwan, all my Chinese co-workers SWORE by these tiny eyebrow razors. They have 1,106 4-star reviews, so maybe everyone else has caught on, too?

What Time Feels Like When You’re ImprovisingYour sense of time is malleable and subjective—it changes in response to changing contexts and input, and it can be distorted when the brain is damaged, or affected by drugs, disease, sleep deprivation, or naturally altered states of consciousness. However, a new set of neuroscience research findings suggests that losing track of time is also intimately bound up with creativity, beauty, and rapture.

Related: the feeling of novelty slows time. Which is why everyone needs a New Things Practice. Here’s how to start one!

i just started shaving my face, and a friend recommended those eyebrow razors! they work perfectly. i’m lucky in that my facial hair is blonde, and i’m sure i notice it more than anyone else. i feel like it’s been growing in a lot more as of late. i was embarrassed about it, but once i confided in my friend and she told me she shaved her face, i realized it wasn’t a big deal.